My letter wasn’t super-polished, but I just wanted to hit a few key points:

Dear Senator [FILL IN NAME]:

I am a law-abiding Coloradan, a doctor, and a gun owner. I’m also a swing voter who has voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past few elections.

I’m writing to express my extreme opposition to Senator Feinstein’s proposed new “assault weapons ban”. The guns she is trying to outlaw have legitimate uses for sporting and self-defense purposes. Plus, the AR-15 platform and some of the affected features (such as the pistol grip) make it very ergonomic for shooters with less upper body strength (e.g., women), or older shooters with arthritis. Outlawing such weapons would impose a disproportionate burden on such shooters.

Similarly, outlawing magazines with greater than 10-round capacity handicaps victims who may be caught by surprise by multiple attackers.

Finally, universal background checks are unnecessary and burdensome to honest citizens. If one law-abiding citizen sells his used rifle to another, there is no victim and no harm.

Northeastern University criminology professor James Fox recently noted, “Most mass murderers do not have criminal records or a history of psychiatric hospitalization. They would not be disqualified from purchasing their weapons legally.”

Newtown killer Adam Lanza stole his mother’s guns — which would not have been prevented by a background check. Mandatory ID checks of law-abiding customers purchasing Sudafed in their local pharmacies have not stopped illegal meth labs. Similarly, mandatory background checks for private firearms purchases merely impose unnecessary new burdens on the law-abiding, but will not stop the bad guys.

I oppose every major provision of Senator Feinstein’s bill. I’m writing to urge you to oppose the bill as well.

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